I never could get startup delayer to work properly, programs that should start minimized didnt, splash screens that id got rid of returned, i got rid of it in a hurry, now using the chameleon startup manager and it works really well, for me, in this case, you gets whats you pays for, i also had trouble with their media player xion, and uninstalling that was a long term hassle for the novice. It left all sorts of things in registry so it kept appearing in context menus and so on, grrrrr

This was some time ago, well last year, so it could be much better now, and others seem to have no trouble so at the price its sure worth a try

Actually, i updated and tested it a lot of times and now i think it works pretty fine. It's my first script so it could certainly be better but at least there won't be any bad surprise. Any feedback is welcome

The only thing i need to do now is to disable the script when there is no parent folder. It doesn't cause any harm, it just selects a random file as the script is looking for a folder that doesn't exist.

I never could get startup delayer to work properly, programs that should start minimized didnt, splash screens that id got rid of returned, i got rid of it in a hurry, now using the chameleon startup manager and it works really well, for me, in this case, you gets whats you pays for...

I like the ideas of a startup manager where you can simply designate the startup sequence - i.e. without having to say: delay this by 20 seconds - I have no idea how long individual apps need to start so I'm not going to dictate to them!

Does Chameleon offer that possibility ?just did a quick search found this thread where the author seems to say it can - it does sound good anyways

My problem with Chameleon is that I really don't understand why I would need it. What more should I ask for than for some programs' startup to be delayed? Even the free Startup Delayer will tell if there is any new program in Start and ask if that is okay (if I want it to). What more would I need?

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tomos @ I have half of my programs starting in one big crowd, and the other half spread widely over five minutes, because I need a lot more memory (yeah; me too, but I was talking about the PC) to have the bunch starting any faster. Some will want the starting procedure to be done as fast as posible; but I want it to be as steady as can be, so every program will display their icon in the systray. It is my experience that I can easily make the startup procedure be a lot quicker, but not as safe. For excample; Outlook is quite stable, but I have given it four plugins that are making the combination weak. Therefor it has become important to me that Outlook must have extraordinary good time to start - safety first. This is not science but experience. Well; see for yourself:

I'm interested in Curt's question about Chameleon (and I apologize if it's actually been answered - I'm in Belgium and it's early am here and I've yet to have any coffee!): will Chameleon allow me to start programmes in a certain order without having to specifiy the delay that occurs between them (is it smart?)?

Ok, i tested it on my laptop and i cant get the start after part of it to work, it keeps them in the list saying they are waiting for the condition to be met, of course i could easily be doing something wrong here, even tho it seems pretty straight forward

It is only "on paper" you can change the starting order without any delays. In practice they will still start in a bunch / all together at the same time, won't they. So I don't expect that to change anything, or even be smart, as you so elegant put it.

Chameleon will alter the starting order if you want it - with specified delays. The advantage is that 1) I can have Webshots start before EartWatcher which again will start before Desktop Icon Toy (with the delays carefully adjusted); all giving a fancy animation on the desktop during startup. And 2) I can defrag before auto-backup and 3) I can have the MASH figure Becky jump up and whistle for me, to tell that Outlook has performed the send/receive routine and my PC is ready to go.

But again; I can do all that with the free Startup Delayer too.So other than because of any problems caused by mis-matching: WHY choose Chameleon over the free Startup Delayer?

hi curt, ahhhh i must have forgotten to change the local time, heading towards 10 pm saturday evening here.

Yes windows XP SP2 (one is pro, one is home) and it wouldnt work on either one. well not properly, it started them up but all the startup options for each program had gone. I tried the chameleon one just to see if it worked, and it did, and with a 30% discount i decided to get it.

Great thread. Thought I'd add my 5c given I post so infrequently yet get so much out of others' posts.

Apps I love and couldn't do without:

Directory Opus - explorer replacement. The first thing that gets installed. So much tweakability it makes my brain hurt (in a good way!). With the latest version I shelled out for the USB license as I can't go without DOpus when using someone else's machine.

RoboForm - password 'enterer'. Wonderful app! Saves having to remember passwords for web sites you only visit every few months, as well as automatically filling out form information when signing up for sites. Plus you can securely store any textual information you like (license keys, etc). Integrates nicely with FARR - just add your RoboForm directory to FARR and you can launch automatic logins directly - a massive timesaver at work where there are passwords for almost every system.

Apps on the cusp of "love and couldn't do without":

AutoHotkey - hotkey util. The more I use it the more I like it. I've only just started to delve into it a bit more over the past couple of months but it seems that everything I think I'd like it to do...it can!

Find and Run Robot - launch util. Only started using this in the last couple of weeks but what a time saver. I used to leave a lot of documents open on my machine so I could access them regularly but with FARR I can free up that RAM by just launching them when needed. I can launch FARR, key in the doc alias, and load the doc in only slightly more time than it would have taken to locate the open doc on the desktop and swap to it.

Firefox - browser. Tabbed browsing brought me to this and I've never gone back. I try to keep the number of extensions/addons to a minimum as my work machine has a limited profile space but it's nice to have so much customisability packed into such a regularly used tool.

Foxit Reader - pdf reader. Every time I load a pdf at work through Adobe Reader I'm reminded why I use Foxit at home. Sloooooooow versus snappy!

Paintshop Pro - image editor. Never got the hang of Photoshop and the price is prohibitive anyway. PSPro hits a nice middle ground between feature-rich and simple to use.

Taskbar Shuffle - let's you manipulate you apps on the taskbar/system tray through drag and drop. You know some people just have to have their email client leftmost on the taskbar, right?

Apps I like (a lot), and always install, but am open to the possibility that there might be better alternatives out there:

Ad Muncher - ad blocker. A bit of a carryover from my dialup days. Not sure if it's absolutely necessary these days but I feel a bit lonely if I don't see the little cow icon in my system tray munching away...

Azureus - bittorrent client. Can't say I've tried any other clients but I've had no reason to as this does everything I want out of the 'box'.

Beyond Compare - file/directory comparison util. Doesn't get used with any regularity but every couple of weeks I find a need for it and it "just works".

Copernic Desktop Search - desktop Search app. On my work machine I'm using this constantly to churn through massive email archives. I struggle to imagine how I got by without such a tool a couple of years back. I tried Copernic on the recommendation of a work colleague and as it did everything I needed I stuck with it and never tried anything else. One day I plan on trialling some of the other big players but till then Copernic will do me just fine.

DBPowerAmp - audio converter. Nice explorer integration and plenty of plugins. I'm sure there are a lot of other equally good (or better) apps out there that do the same thing, but DBPowerAmp just hides away until I decide to right-click a file and convert it.

Easy CDDA Extractor - CD ripper. My version must be more than five years old but it's simple and reliable which is all I really need when it comes to ripping audio CDs. I'm certain there are fancier apps out there with a massive list of features but I guess I don't miss what I don't know!

File Box Extender - tweaks Open/Save dialogs to have a favourites list. Saves me a bunch of time when saving email attachments, etc. Also, being able to click a directory in Explorer (or DOpus) and having an Open/Save dialog 'jump' to it is plenty useful.

FreeDownload Manager - download manager. Replaced Star Downloader a few months back and wouldn't consider going back. I like the fact that when it detects a potential download you can click cancel and use Firefox/IE's internal download mechanism if need be.

Genie Backup - backup utility. I've got a fairly solid backup regime in place and GB is the tool I've settled on. Very easy to setup a schedule and from then on it's a one-click affair.

PSPad - text editor. I needed something better than Notepad but I don't remember why I settled on this. It's free, so I'm sure that was a factor, but the whole tabbed interface and various plugins make it a regularly used app.

TrayIt - allows apps to be minimised to the system tray. Sometimes I want to keep something open but not take up any space in the taskbar. TrayIt solves that problem.

Winamp - media player. Has stuck around since I first discovered mp3s many moons ago. Think I tried Foobar once but couldn't figure out an easy way to change the volume! I'm fairly certain I could find a nice 'light' mp3 player out there (and one that actually supports the media buttons on my keyboard) but till then tradition dictates I stick with Winamp!

ZipGenius - zip util. Used IZArc for a while but settled on ZG as it had a nice 'feel' and the developer responded promptly to a couple of requests I made.

Hmmm, that turned into a bit of a ramble really and probably didn't point out many apps that people on this forum weren't aware of already. Still, comments, etc welcome!

Yeah, a nice side effect of RoboForm storing every login as a separate file. We've got umpteen portals/shared spaces/etc at work and it's so much easier to just fire them all off using FARR without having to worry about logins.

I used to use dbPowerAmp all the time too, but i've been disapointed with the latest version so i looked for an alternative and found Switch. Convert anything to anything very simply, i like it and it's free. The "plus" version offers a command-line ability that should very interesting with Drag n Drop Robot.

Also, i was looking for a nice alternative to Winamp and discovered XMPlay (thanks to *i don't remember who* on this forum) and i love it. You should try it.

Thanks for the list BrokenNails! Fortunately, using the Opera browser has allowed me to forego Roboform, even though it's undeniably fantastic. Much like Vista's disk management allows me to disgard all those partition utilities — if I don't need, I won't install it. But AutoHotkey is "on the cusp"?! ;-)

I've been enjoying GIMP lately, to my surprise. I've rejected it a dozen times in the past, but now I can finally get past the fact that it has no background workspace. That crap always drove me crazy, but suddenly it doesn't. Go figure.

You are a stronger man than I, my friend. I almost lost my sanity with GIMP's user interface. I simply couldn't get used to it after PS. I hate that program with a passion now.

EDIT: ahh that GIMPSHOP thingie looks interesting. Gotta give it a shot, if they claim to have improved the suer interface. Mind you, I am not a PS power user by any stretch of the imagination, but PS has been relatively straighforward to use even for a novice like me.

Favorite software? I llike everything I have installed now, but that would make a long list. But since my main foxus is security, I'll concentrate on my favorite security programs:

1. Sandboxie - I haven't even seen a false positive, much less any real malware since I started doing all my surfing in a sandbox.2. NOD32 AV - I tend to forget it's there, until it announces that it has detected the eicar file from time to time.3. Zone Alarm Pro - I know some (many?) do not agree, but this one works perfectly for me.4. ProcessGuard Pro - If you don't let it run, it can't do any damage.

Non-Security: 1. Lexitron - a Thai-English, English-Thai simultaneous translator. Indispensible for my work.2. Ace Utilities - Cleanup utility that does a lot more than just clean.3. Mailwasher Pro - Great anti-spam program, but i could probably do just as much with the free version (which I also have)4. Copernic Agent Pro - Outstanding for research work. 5. Gadwin Printscreen - simple to use and does exactly what I need6. Deskpins - makes programs remain on top if they do not already have that option